Feyenoord want to reopen and extend Gjivai Zechiël's contract as quickly as possible. Mikos Gouka reports this on behalf of the Algemeen Dagblad.
After spending last season on loan at FC Utrecht, the midfielder has been given the chance to fight for his place at Feyenoord again this season under head coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst. Zechiël made an immediate impact with an excellent display against Sparta on Sunday (0-1).
That has given the Feyenoord board enough reason to move quickly over a new deal for Zechiël, whose current contract runs until 2028. They want to get ahead of interested clubs, with Zechiël himself still not appearing to have made a final decision on his future.
"The club's leadership are very pleased with the player's development," the AD writes. Earlier this summer, it still seemed as though Zechiël would join Lille OSC, who wanted to pay €10 million, but that move ultimately did not happen.
"As long as I'm on the pitch, I'm always up for it," Zechiël told ESPN last Sunday. "What happens outside that, I leave to my agents. I really try to focus as little as possible on those peripheral matters."
Feyenoord's push to extend Zechiël also fits with the club's broader plans. According to the AD, the Rotterdam club want to once again give 'plenty of room' to home-grown players in the near future.
Sparta Rotterdam's academy picked up Zechiël in 2018, before he worked his way into Feyenoord's first team. So far, he has made 11 appearances for the senior side.